Breaking negative cycle, creating programs to help young people move forward.

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I’ve played gangsters, baddies and hard men in the movies, but in real life, the tough choice that takes real courage is be able to say no when violence seems like an easy way out. Emeka Egbuonu has made it his mission in life to equip young people with the confidence and knowledge to make good choices in difficult situations. His book Consequences – Breaking the Negative Cycle is based on his real life experiences with gangs as a youth and his work since helping other young people not get sucked into violence.

This is a valuable insight from someone who tells it as is really is and doesn’t pull any punches. It’s funny, it’s dramatic – but most of all, it’s honest.
It’s no good just condemning street violence, you also have to look at why it’s happening and how to stop it – especially when British cities have been torn apart by looting and rioting. Emeka was out on the streets during the recent unrest in London, helping young people to see sense and not get involved in trouble. This book is a must-read and a practical guide for young people, parents, teachers, police and anyone with an interest in making our cities safe and creating a new generation of hope instead of alienation.

Young people generally have fast become the human equivalent of dangerous dogs in our culture, and young people who join gangs are especially seen as being somehow different, dangerous and alien. Few of us have bothered to try and understand why a young person might want to join a gang, or thereafter how we as a society might repsond to that decision and thereafter help that young person to leave the gang behind.

Written from his personal experiences of working with gangs and young people in Hackney, Emeka Egbuonu’s Consequences- Breaking the Negative Cycle fills this criminological gap, and brings fresh insight into what we all should be doing in the wake of the English riots to help young people – usually young men – bridge the gap between school and a law-abiding adulthood.

This book should be read widely – not least within the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office – because we can all learn something positive and inspiring from Emeka’s work.

Professor David Wilson, Britain’s leading criminologist, Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University and author of Looking for Laura: Public Criminology and Hot News.

The process of going on this trip was one month in planning. The consequences workshop is project that uses different techniques to get young people involved in positive activities. We use critical thinking methods to get young people thinking. Within our workshop we discuss the effects of youth violence and gang culture. The plan now was to see if we can research on world most known areas for gangs and to find as much information as possible to help us in our workshops. The young people did research and came to the conclusion that Los Angeles was the gang capital of the world and some of their deep rooted problem are taking effect in London today. We all came back together and analysed what we had all found individually, we all had a chance to present to the group, about the main issues they were facing in LA and most importantly getting information on the gang intervention programs . The results of the research were in and everybody had an interest in the LA programs, this is when the inception for going to LA to do a documentary in comparing the differences and to find out what we can learn from them. It was now time to put a bid in for funding to see if we would get the opportunity to make this happen, which would create a new opportunity to work with young people abroad.

We all saw an opportunity to go on a trip and make a good documentary. When the approval for the trip came, the next stage was to pick who would go on the trip. This was a fair and easy process because we decided that 1 young person from each Crib project across Hackney will get an opportunity to go. The one person was decided by who had participated the most in all the workshops even before the idea for the trip was ever mentioned, This seemed like a fair way to do it and the young people were happy with it. This also allowed us to bring together young people that have never worked together before, either due to gang violence in their areas, but this was an opportunity for them to mix and create something worthwhile

When the final four young people were confirmed, we now had to start planning for the trip. I would call a meeting with them once a week to discuss plan. We divided up the task, some were in charge of calling youth organisation to see if they could accommodate us, while other looked into the visa process of travelling to the States. We had a budget of £5000 which we had to spend wisely, this was for travel, food, and accommodation. We all worked on a budget together, everyone was assigned something to do i.e. checking flight prices, accommodation prices , car rental prices, equipment for filming. The budget was drawn up and was always monitored at every step to make sure we were still within our budget.

We had to do several risk assessment to make sure that the trip would be as safe as possible. One of the things which we had on the risk assessment was that we could not interview anyone that was not part of an organisation we have contact with. We would always have a youth worker with us when in dangerous areas. We all sat down to brainstorm what risk we could have, when we found these out, we now had to minimise the risk or figure out how to eliminate that risk. This process was long but effective and had to be done.

When the trip was over, they young people had to keep a diary of their trip and their experiences. All of them learnt something from the trip, they learnt to appreciate things a bit more. They saw many people’s struggles and comparing that to what happens in London made them realise their potential. This trip made them want to spread the message of positivity even more, to help shape and guide their peer from any forms of negativity that could disrupt their lives. The confidence they gained from asking questions, interviewing people, interacting with people that they never would have met before, this has now transpired to their lives here as they are all using these new skills to make a positive impact here in London. The journey of the trip and the life experience is not something that they will forget and they are really grateful to have the opportunity to go and make something positive that they can be proud of.

Tyrese Gibson singer,song writer, actor and now author has released his first book called “how to get out your own way”. Tyrese is passionate about the message he is sending, he is a firm believer in passing on knowledge as well, the book is about breaking the barriers that stand before us in the mirror. Exploring ways to overcome doubt. This book is powerful and I highly recommend it. This is a man that has accomplished a lot of things in his career, a real rags to riches story, but he tells us that we must seek help to overcome and to move forward. Upon all his wealth that he still needs help and therapy to overcome things from his past. Buy his book now and am sure you will also recommend it to others.

A few people have been asking about the meaning of the front cover and how the idea for it came along. There are two main reasons that inspired the front cover. One of the things that inspired the concept of the cover was my time in secondary school, one of my mentors gave me some important advice that I have not forgotten. His name was Mr Richards; he was one of the few people that I actually looked up to at that period. One day we were both having a discussion about ambition, progression to success and making mistakes. He told me that everyone deserves the chance to make something of themselves, but with that comes hard work and determination to succeed even against all odds. He carried on by saying along the way you are guaranteed to have obstacles in your way, but you have to be ready and willing to overcome them. As your journey continues you have to be open to receive knowledge from those who have come before you and to their wisdom to learn from their mistakes because this can save you time in your journey to success.

The second reason was based on my sessions with the young people. I have been running these workshops for 2years now and one thing that remains constant is the fact that young people are enthusiastic in learning from each other, sometimes it proves to be more effective than when we give the same teachings as adults. The process of passing knowledge, experiences, aspirations these are important steps to take because it keeps you moving forward. The most important is learning by action, being around people who are doing rather than all talk and no action.

Going onto the cover and how it fits with the two things I mentioned above. The young man on the left is ready and willing to do what it takes to succeed, he has decided that he needs help, support, and motivation. The glass in the middle represents all the negative barriers, cycles that he faces day in day out in his life (regardless of the obstacle he is ready to face it head on). Through his determination his is able to break that negative stronghold withholding him and his potential. The young man on the right represents a fellow peer, who has come from similar circumstances and has already smashed down those barriers. He using the power of sharing knowledge we show this by the book in his hands, he is now willing to give that to someone who else so that the he too can pursue success.

The words on the lower half are all the positive words that are constantly coming up in our sessions.

THESE ARE THE WORDS THAT KEEP THE BARRIERS BROKEN

“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education, and culture for their minds, dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits”

I hope my book Consequences – Breaking the Negative Cyclewill help other young people learn from mistakes made by those who have come before them. So we can break the cycle of poor role models, low aspirations, under achievement. Understanding the importance of history and culture, how inequality affect young people, tackling youth violence and gang culture and enabling young people to be ambitious.

I lead seminars for groups of young people in London and am on the London Mayor’s mentoring team. I’ve also met former gang members in Los Angeles who are using innovative techniques to turn young people away from gangs. I hope this book will help spread the message even further that things can change for the better – and share ways to make that happen.

In this blog I’ll be telling you about me, my own personal journey away from violence (it hasn’t been easy) and towards self-discovery and I’ll also keep you posted on the book.